1: I never claimed to be a role model: There’s not exactly an application process for this position homie. In a country where celebrity is held in the highest regard and the Black community’s agency historically has been heavily relegated through years of structural oppression and marginalization you actually happen to be extremely relevant, particularly to the youth. Is this extreme relevance deserved? Debatable. Regardless, it is real and has little to do with personal choice and will not disappear due to abstract questioning of its social injustice. It simply is true and, yes, you are a role model. Now perhaps this responsibility could be embraced as an opportunity rather than disregarded as a costly burden.

2. Don’t blame me. The parents aren’t doing their job: Maybe so…but ya’ll sound like some Reaganite Republican or something. “Just pull up your boot straps, cut that long hair and take care of your family, lazy Hippies! Just say no!” The bold statement does little more than deflect blame in a very pretentious and grandiose manner. The statement only seems concerned with keeping one’s hands clean and appears indifferent to struggles of family and youth in America that hip-hop once boldly cleared its throat to address. Neglecting to even recognize issues of divorce, children born out of wedlock, one-parent families or even issues of blue-collar living, the job of the parent is simplified and harshly judged. Hip-Hop was once a community and this quote makes that time hard to remember.

3. Know What I’m saying? Nope.

4. When I say Bitches and Hoes I’m not talking about all women just women who are like that: I’m going to let my man Bryan Hurt (Creator of “Beyond Beats and Rhymes”) handle this one. “If President Bush went on air and said our country is in a terrible position because of all these N words out there, would black people be like- “well in which case I know he’s not talking about me, so whatever” (well maybe I paraphrased but you get the point). Claiming to be specific when you are blatantly not only weakens the argument and makes the words seem more inclusive and bigoted.

5. Movies are violent too so why don’t you attack them? Trust me we don’t want Jadakiss equated to “Snow Dogs” shit get real on set, I heard that Cuban Gooding took 3 hot ones to the chest over some stupid beef over some carrot sticks at the catering table. Hip-Hop should never be equated directly to the standards held of other mediums because to do so dilutes the distinctive and intrinsic reality of it’s voice.

6. Hip-Hop is just a reflection of America, if you don’t like what you see don’t blame us, blame yourself: First let me say, much like the quote above, this has real underlying promise and raises a good point. However, I simply don’t buy this statement as it stands today, maybe 15 years ago but the transformation of hip-hop into a global enterprise makes not so simple now. Hip-Hop used to reflect the emotions, conditions, and struggles of people; however, the commodification of hip-hop has put image at the forefront and consequently left people looking to replicate hip-hop in the creation of their own reflection. Images of aspiration and impossible dreams have replaced the poetic personal narratives that spoke for the voiceless (in terms of mass relevance – but I’m a backpacker so I only listen to Vegan rappers).

7. Why would I freestyle? I rhyme to get paid: Can’t freestyle huh? Broke huh? I understand it’s tricky, not too much shit rhymes with “no homo”

8. Blah Blah Blah first week record sales:. How the hell is hip-hop going to emphasize record sales when the record selling game is a wrap? Our ultimate standards of success are no longer even mildly the standards in the music industry at large. Ideals of critical acclaim, musical progression or experimentalism that could help advancement at this time are disregarded and replaced with limp statistics of units pushed. Somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game.

9. East Coast dudes are biased: You’re damn right we’re biased! Why do you think Bill Cosby got his multi colored sweater in a bunch? Or W.E.B. Dubois became a socialist when he was like 120? When you are directly connected to founding ideals, principles and elements of something and after all you’re hard work the shit you spent your life working at doesn’t even resemble itself anymore you’re entitled to be a little grouchy -
holler at me! (In my best Internet gangster voice)

10. Hip-Hop is dead because of the South: Hey Cosby, Dubois, Crush Groove! Uh huh, yeah you with high top fad and zippers on your kicks stop whining, start applying yourself to changes you want to see and stop pointing an embittered old finger. Placing blame only creates defensiveness and divides a community in need of rebuilding.

Ok ok check it check it check it out. I know it’s kind of dangerous to be an emcee and all that but stop ducking and dodging the issues and questions with formulaic clichés. Stop casting blame to avoid the revealing face of one’s own responsibility.

More and more it appears that hip-hop feeds its patrons willingly while their self-motivated gluttony gradually eats away at their forgotten lover now turned unappreciated provider. The narrow minded corners we back ourselves into often act as delusions that seem to protect ourselves as from imminent attack but in actuality they do nothing more than lead to the continued avoidance of needed reevaluation.

/Art by Rory Panagotopulos

Archie Bunker had half of America laughing at his bigoted antics and the other half laughing right along with him with a confirming nod. Petty Green instigated half his audience to protest for civil rights while his own station plotted against him due to his message. Whether it be satire, irony, or simply shock entertainment, it is the extremes that have us either ready to congregate for justice or rally for war. Whether you turn on your television to spit or salute, the attention keeps sponsors coming, networks making money, and broadcasted voices gaining relevance. We seem to covet what we condemn most, and as a culture we crave the heights and depths that these characters bring us to. The most outlandish figures are enabled to stand upon the most lavish soap box, due to the increased meaning of their words through public condemnation, or unabashed support.

It is the audience’s demand for the outrageous that has convoluted, dulled and tarnished the line of appropriateness. What we demand to have from the media often overlaps with what we demand to have stopped in our immediate society. We pass it off as entertainment without real world ripple effects when convenient, and use it as a scapegoat to explain our societal flaws and tragedies at other times. We must distinguish between the offense an individual can cause and the context in which his offensiveness was spawned.

The instance of Imus can act as a tableau of just how much power the consumer has in determining what will be given an opportunity to be heard in the media . By no stretch of the imagination was MSNBC taking a daring moral stand by firing Imus; it’s simple physics (or some kind of science). As the outrage grew and voices spoke out, sponsors wanted no affiliation with such harmful publicity and thus pulled out their financial support. It is easy to feel at the mercy of a bombarding media, yet it is a co-dependent relationship in which the buyer and seller gain understandings of their role from each other. However genuine the anger/discomfort we experience when we are given something that we don’t want, we seem not to adjust our desires and recognize the power of those desires. Rather, we tend to lick our wounds and invite our abusive partner right back inside, with the empty expectation that he won’t do it again.

* Art by Rory “Glass Jaw” Panagotopulos

I am often too quick to place the responsibility on structure and socially conditioned attitudes exclusively. Responsibility for change, and ultimately our own moral standing, falls on us (I know I get caught up in stupid shit, Cuurrtisssss!). The emphasis on gossip is perpetuated by the interest of the consumer; it is perpetuated by a blog on a diss video receiving 530 comments and a new Sean Price song receiving 70 comments (real stats). Like the landscape of adolescent insecurity in which a feeling of safety can be found in another’s ridicule, one finds a distraction from one’s own life and is removed from the daunting context of the larger issues of the world.

Perhaps I and others who are merely fans are not in a position to judge those profiting from the memory of Biggie. However, from an outsider perspective the motives of his honor often appear jaded and diluted by the mass marketing of glitzy stage shows and cliché prayers. Oddly, while such spectacles often seem empty, Cease’s story evokes pathos without the crutch of very special guests or fancy light shows.

Lil Cease lays back in a car (in the same seat where he sat on the night of the shooting) and speaks about Biggie in a tone and vernacular that betrays a hesitancy to share his story. Big is transformed from a mythic figure into a lost childhood friend within the context of a life that has encountered and dealt with violence and loss more than a few times. Cease often finishes his answers about Big’s death and ongoing investigation by saying “what can I do myself?” His tone suggests he really is still searching for that answer. Sometimes, when asked certain questions, he stares off with an absent glare to hold back the swell of tears, and bites his lower lip to hold back words which may hurt him too much to share. Or maybe, he simply deems it no one else’s business.

click here if you missed part one of our feature w/ Malice of The Clipse

Palms Out: You let your son listen to whatever he wants?

Malice: He listens to whatever he wants. The relationship I have with my son and daughter is we talk about everything. Especially with my daughter- when we watch the videos on TV and the girls are shaking their ass and all that I tell ‘em everyone loves a hoe but you don’t love ‘em for long, you know what I’m saying? That’s just real. I try to teach my daughter you see all them hanging on the rapper? That is not who the rapper really wants.

Palms Out: I’ll turn on Cribs or whatever show, behind the life of your favorite rapper…generally they have a wife and a child, but the perception is that not only you [rappers] don’t, but that you shouldn’t. Do you think an ideal of family could be further incorporated into hip-hop or is it just not a part of the message?

Malice: I think it could be. It could be a part of the message- family within hip-hop. Once again, it’s just about being real and I think maybe it might even help when you see your favorite rapper with their wife and with their kids. I was just telling someone, I got this big, big gold Re-Up Records chain, diamonds flooded out and everything and they know me and they know [that's not my style]. I would much rather be putting some money up, but it is about the dream…I remember seeing RUN DMC with the big gold chain on and it made me want to have something. It may not have been the chain per se but it is about having something! Having more than what you had and just trying to better yourself. I wear my chain and it’s not about the chain it’s about the dream and having something and aspiring to be something, not that the chain makes you, (laughing) but it gives you a goal. It ain’t about having a big gold chain but it’s about having a big gold chain.

Palms Out: The chain is a symbol of something, but does rap narrow what that dream is? Does the video make that kid say “the only thing that dream can be is the chain”?

Malice: Right, I know exactly what you’re saying. It’s hard to say because some of the rappers are kids themselves. Not everyone gets it at the same time. You might be out here clowning and acted a damn fool now and you might wake up later. You can’t pass judgment on anyone. But I know I am going to take some responsibility and just paint these pictures and tell it as real as possible because the truth of the matter is if you sell drugs, you either going to get killed or you’re gong to end up in jail. That is just the truth of the matter. You are up against agencies! I wish these kids knew, FBI, Police, they have millions of dollars and your little black ass is not going to find a way to outdo them. We were lucky to get out of the game unscathed and we have only been lucky thus far.

Palms Out: I’m going to switch gears…If you could see any hip-hop battle between any two emcee’s in history, who would it be?

Malice: (long pause) It would be Pusha T and Jay-Z.

Palms Out: Ok, ok I’d like to see it too.

Malice: I’d like to see that too. (laughing) I’d like to see that too. I would love to see Pusha T and Jay-Z go at it.

Palms Out: I was thinking we were going to see Pusha T and Lil’ Wayne do it this year.

Malice: Naw, I don’t even wanna…that’s too easy, that really is too easy.

Palms Out: Similar topic. My boy asked this the first time I met him (what it do Kubie? get off that couch)- You can take three emcees and make a super group. How about this- you can have 2 emcees and a producer.

Malice: I would take Dre as the producer, and I would take early Snoop. Snoop is still hot to me but I’m just saying, and I would take Pac. East coast I would probably get Pharrell and Chad producing, put B.I.G in there…B.I.G and Jay-Z, I’d put that together.

Palms Out: I work with kids. I work with young teenagers, 12-15, and they are more interested in rap than in school, so I am always trying to figure out how to get them interested. What class weren’t you yawning in?

Malice: English. English was always that class.

Palms Out: How do you think Hip-Hop can function as a tool in the academic world?

Malice: I think that the curriculum…well, Hip-Hop is still taboo to a lot of people. It is urban, it is black, it’s inner city, it’s violence, it’s drugs, it’s hoes. To some people that is all it is. I just wish they could stop and say “what is it that makes him say that?” like “why is he talking about shooting somebody?” or “why is he talking about killing or fornication?” Of course it may not be savory but it is something that makes that kid say that and it is that “something” that is important. I don’t think it is a “something” that should be overlooked. If you look at life and it’s so beautiful and you do right and you treat others as you wish to be treated and this that and that is great. But, there is something about that kid that didn’t come from that. Maybe if we can tap into that and try to find a way to express to them that we can show them that life can be beautiful and it doesn’t have to be hardship all time. But people really do come from these hardships and really do come from their struggles, that is reality. Maybe we can show that it doesn’t have to be like that, researching why they feel like that. I don’t know if that answered the question about integrating it into the curriculum but I’ll tell you what, if there is anything I can do, by helping kids, [I'm all for it] because I am always trying burn off some bad karma, straight up.

Palms Out: It is very clear that the maturity process has meant a lot to you. What places do you go for your own sanity? Have you gotten more spiritual? Is it family? Through these transformations, this maturating process, where are the places you find comfort?

Malice: Man, the place I find comfort is basically my spirituality and my belief in God. I don’t know…It is something that is very near and dear to me I don’t even know how to share that kind of peace that I get from it with other people…I would love to. Something inside of me I just wish I could share it with everybody. Because we have been through some tough times and I don’t know how I would get through it without God. My spirituality is the base.

Palms Out: I am not a particularly religious person but I always feel a little irked when I see rappers with crosses or symbols of Jesus that are covered in diamonds and excessive jewelry. Do you feel that it offends you or is that something outside of religion itself?

Malice: I’m guilty of that. I got the Jesus piece with the yellow diamonds in it. I was talking to Pharrell, we were having a conversation one time and he said “wow, that’s hot…I knew you was going to do something like that.” There were so many other things I could have got but he was like “with that you can never go wrong” and me, that’s my sentiments exactly. I hope it doesn’t come off as exploitation and maybe to some it does, but I know what it means to me and I feel justified by that. I will have to answer to God. I mean, me, I am going to have to answer to him.

Palms Out: This is kind of a cliché question but this is fun too. If you could live in any other time period when would it be?

Malice: I don’t want to go too far back because I would ha

ve been a slave. I would definitely say, even though I probably still would have been a slave but I would want to go back to the time when Jesus walked the earth I want to be in on that. When the world was fairly new, before all the poisons, and the smog and everything. I believe we were probably almost super human without all the poisons of the world. We were much more in touch with our intuitive side and more in tune with our bodies back then

Palms Out: Seems like urban life can really bog you down, take your smile away

Malice: Even at seven years old coming from New York to Virginia, as a seven year old, I could feel damn near the weight being left in New York and only hearing crickets. And [not to mention], everyone speaks to each other here

Palms Out: What is one question that a journalist has never asked you that you would like to be asked? And then answer it.

Malice: I think you did ask just about everything, ya’ll cover everything. I can’t really think of anything I wanted to get off my chest that you didn’t ask. I would like to say once again that we don’t take our fans lightly at all. Our fans are very much a part of us and we are still fans of hip-hop ourselves and we still listen…Thank you to the fans for riding with us, they kept us relevant and kept us in place when the labels weren’t doing nothing.

Yeah alright, we get it mainstream media. However, a group like the Clipse makes clear the dangers of such narrow labels. The VA duo put a huge dent in the stigmas hurled at coke rap, both as men and as emcees. It is their dark reality that inspires them and fuels their bravado, enabling the Clipse to effortlessly put wack rappers in their place while maintaining dignity and artistry.

Palms Out spoke with Malice, one half of the Clipse and ¼ of the Re-Up Gang, about everything from diamond flooded Jesus pieces and video chicks to being a family man and fighting for the survival of Hip-Hop.

Palms Out: I grew up loving Rakim and lyrical hip-hop. Lately I feel that Hip-Hop has departed from lyricism as an emphasis. Why do you think that may be?

Malice: It could be a million reasons. I feel like the world we live in lieu of 9/11, the tsunami, just the world. People just want to be happy. Have a good time. Not be so serious. It might have something to do with it. I don’t know. But I am all up for change, ya know it’s like the seasons, everything changes, nothing will stay the same. But I guess when they tell me they aren’t playing my record, they’re saying “ya know it’s hot” but they’re not playing due to the climate of music. You’re not playing my music due to climate of music? I don’t understand that. I don’t understand how you can forget about the fundamentals. Even if the fundamentals ain’t what’s poppin’ you can’t avoid the fundamentals- they are always necessary.

Palms Out: Recently in The New Yorker, there was an article about ya’ll and Jeezy and the whole “coke rap” label. Do you feel the label of “crack rap” or the fact that the topic dominates your subject matter boxes you in or pigeon holes you in terms of your listeners and critics?

Malice: I think the listeners that listen see the difference. It is the people who take things at face value and don’t scrape beneath the surface, they might categorize us with other crack rap. I also feel slighted when it’s labeled as crack rap because it gives the impression that it’s [just] “crack rap”…ya know, ignorant, it has no meat. That is not the case. [There] is definitely a lot of food for thought within these verses…I definitely feel slighted when you put me with other artists who are not doing the same thing we’re doing

Palms Out: I was speaking to someone about labeling rappers. I was telling them I like “conscious” rap and I named some artists and ya’ll were one of them, and they stopped me and said “naw, Clipse, they aren’t conscious rap.” I regarded you as part of that because of how I define conscious. How do you define a conscious rapper?

Malice: I’m with you on that. We are very conscious. We ain’t asleep we’re up, we know what’s going on and we are trying to paint a picture for you. Granted we are not preaching to you or trying to make you change your way. We are just trying to lay out the good, the bad and everything in between of just life. We don’t just paint good pictures of us coming out on top as the victor, you lose sometimes too. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you break even. We just want to give the whole spectrum and there is a lot of consciousness within that.

Palms Out: It seems a lot of rappers get caught up in the surreal nature of being a rap star and they forget about what inspired them to do it; they forget about hip-hop. Do you feel rappers have a responsibility to hip-hop when they make it or is it all bets off and you just do you?

Malice: I think there is a responsibility. I am not trying to say to try to be a role model or anything like that. I can’t speak for other rappers but I know for me I have responsibility to keep hip-hop alive. A lot of people saying hip-hop is dead and I totally understand that. But you know what, [as far as] the hip-hop that gave you goose bumps and who meant what they said and who was just hot…It’s not that kind of day anymore. And I don’t mean hip-hop is dead and the cats that are doing it now aren’t good but it’s just that there is something missing from the hip-hop I know and love. It’s just missing and I don’t know who’s fault it is but it’s just not there.

Palms Out: Hip-Hop is at a strange age, a strange maturity where we are having the first generation of hip-hop adults. Do you feel there is generational disconnect that the kids don’t listen to anymore? Is it like where the grandfathers yelling on the stoop about “it used to be like this or that”?

Malice: Right, right. Well I’ll tell you I don’t want to be that dude. I never want to be the dude who says I remember when hip-hop was this or I remember when it was that. You don’t want to be him, ya know what I’m saying? The cats coming up under you looking at you like “you old school cat you don’t know nothing.” So rather than just say it like that I try to mesh it, I try to show them. Let me show the difference between ours and theirs and when you listen to ours and you listen to theirs don’t you see the difference? Me and Ab Liva of the Re-Up Gang we always talk about “what if we are the only ones left that even care about it?” What if we’re in our own bubble and we haven’t woke up from it? That is a scary reality so with that being said, I don’t want to try to remind cats that weren’t there for it, cause after all they weren’t there for it! So how much should they really be interested in it?

*stay tuned for pt. 2, coming next week